Friday, January 30, 2009

Making the Most of TraderFeed Resources

Well, TraderFeed will hit its 2000th blog post this weekend and, coincidentally, the Twitter Trader feature of the blog is nearing its 2000th subscriber. Readers are no doubt aware that I have shifted the blog to more trading-centric themes--i.e., posts regarding the nuts and bolts of trading--in an effort to provide a helpful blend of trading psychology, market psychology, and trader psychology.

The reason for this shift is that, while there are good trading education services out there, most of them are priced beyond the level of a developing trader. When I began trading in the late 1970s with my $2500 stake as a graduate student, I couldn't have afforded trading coaches who charge hundreds of dollars per hour or seminars that cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars. No trader should be spending 5% or more of his or her trading stake on any single educational opportunity. Prudence dictates that a trading business, like any fledgling enterprise, keep its overhead reasonable.

That is why I've been developing a suite of resources that are designed to aid traders who are like me in my early years: full of interest and willingness to work and learn, but shy on capital. Here's a rundown on those resources and who might find them of use:

1) TraderFeed Blog - This blog has a twin focus: market psychology and trading psychology. Thus you'll find posts on market sentiment--the buying and selling interest among participants and market sectors--as well as posts on trader psychology and trading methods that make use of sentiment and psychology. Many of the posts generate enlightening comments from readers; the readership includes a large number of individual and institutional professional traders. Subscription to the blog via RSS is free, of course; links for subscription can be found below the "About Me" section of the blog page.

2) Become Your Own Trading Coach Blog - This is my new blog site that emphasizes information that can help traders further their personal and trading development. It is a companion blog to the trading coach book that will be coming out shortly (see below), and it serves as an archive for some of the most practically useful trading psychology posts from TraderFeed. New material will be added to the Trading Coach book (see below) over time, and will be available through the Trading Coach blog. RSS subscription is also available via links on the blog at the top left.

3) Twitter Trader - This is the "blog within a blog" feature that sends traders short messages of timely relevance. Some of the "tweets" are links to mainstream media articles that highlight important big picture themes for markets; others are links to blog posts regarding markets and trading methods. Also included in the Twitter posts are pre-opening indicator readings; heads ups on economic reports coming out; and morning comments about market conditions, relative volume, and other important real time information. Free subscription is available via my Twitter page.

4) The Daily Trading Coach - This new book is in print as I write and should be out in the next month or so. To my knowledge, it is the first book specifically designed as a self-help book for traders, with 101 short chapters, each highlighting a practical method for improving trading and psychology. Chapter lessons include specific cognitive, behavioral, and dynamic techniques for working on the psychological side of trading, as well as sections devoted to improving your trading business (risk management, performance measurement) and perspectives from well-regarded trader/bloggers. New material will be added to the book electronically via the Trading Coach blog (see above), and readers will have a dedicated email address to communicate their questions and comments to me. One long-awaited reader-requested feature: A full chapter--10 lessons--devoted to identifying patterns with Excel.

Not all of these resources will appeal to all traders, of course, but my hope is that the mix of them can provide a deep and affordable base of information and skills for those riding their learning curves. Who knows? If the interest is there, over time I may add video and live resources to the mix: whatever will help traders coach themselves toward greater personal and trading development. Thanks as always for the interest and support..

About Me

Author of The Psychology of Trading (Wiley, 2003), Enhancing Trader Performance (Wiley, 2006), The Daily Trading Coach (Wiley, 2009), and Trading Psychology 2.0 (Wiley, 2015) with an interest in using historical patterns in markets to find a trading edge. As a performance coach for portfolio managers and traders at financial organizations, I am also interested in performance enhancement among traders, drawing upon research from expert performers in various fields. I took a leave from blogging starting May, 2010 due to my role at a global macro hedge fund. Blogging resumed in February, 2014, along with regular posting to Twitter and StockTwits (@steenbab). I teach brief therapy as Clinical Associate Professor at SUNY Upstate in Syracuse, with a particular emphasis of solution-focused "therapies for the mentally well". Co-editor of The Art and Science of Brief Psychotherapies (American Psychiatric Press, 2012). I don't offer coaching for individual traders, but welcome questions and comments at steenbab at aol dot com.